Phil Steele, a college football pundit, has the Washington Huskies at the top in his 2008 strength of schedule rankings. Not only do the Huskies face their regular PAC-10 slate (at Arizona, Cal, Oregon, USC and Washington State; home against Arizona State, Oregon State, Stanford and UCLA), they have non-conference matchups against BYU, Notre Dame and Oklahoma.

Arkansas has the 2nd toughest schedule in his ratings with a non-conference game at Texas and home games against Western Illinois, Tulsa and ULM. In the SEC, the Razorbacks host Alabama, Florida, Ole Miss and LSU. The Hogs travel to Auburn, Kentucky, South Carolina and Mississippi State.

Steele’s 3rd toughest schedule in 2008 is the Georgia Bulldogs. The Dawgs schedule, which we covered in an earlier story, includes non-conference games with Arizona State, Central Michigan, Georgia Southern and Georgia Tech. Their toughest SEC matchups include at South Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida and at Auburn.

The 4th and 5th ranked schedules belong to Vanderbilt and Oregon State. Vandy’s non-conference schedule includes at Miami (OH), Rice, Duke and Wake Forest. The Beavers have a schedule which includes Utah State, at Purdue and Boise State.